1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to Internet facsimile that transmits/receives image data using the mechanism of E-mail (electronic mail).
The present invention also relates to E-mail reception methods that can recognize the content of received E-mail.
2. Description of the Related Art
Facsimile apparatuses which transmit image information over the Internet using the same operations as in general facsimiles have been developed. Since these apparatuses use the Internet for the entire or part of their communication path, this type of facsimile apparatus is called xe2x80x9cInternet facsimile.xe2x80x9d
The Internet facsimile on the receiving side receives data in an E-mail format, converts it to a facsimile data format and prints it out in the same way as for facsimile data received through normal facsimile communications. The Internet facsimile converts the received E-mail data to data in a facsimile data format and sends it to a specified G3 facsimile according to a facsimile communication procedure, functioning thus as a relay apparatus.
Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication No. 9-116728 discloses that when the Internet facsimile fails in facsimile transmission, it notifies error information to sender by E-mail (hereafter referred to as xe2x80x9cfailure mailxe2x80x9d).
International Publication WO97/38523 discloses that the Internet facsimile notifies the transmission result of relay facsimile data received via a LAN (Local Area Network) to the E-mail address of a facsimile transmission requesting node or administrator node.
When conventional Internet facsimiles on the transmitting side (hereafter referred to as xe2x80x9ctransmitting nodexe2x80x9d) receive failure mail or E-mail notifying the success/failure of delivery (hereafter referred to as xe2x80x9cdelivery status notification mailxe2x80x9d), they output it without distinguishing it from normal E-mail.
However, said failure mail or delivery status notification mail contains the E-mail data sent from the transmitting node as the return content as it is. Therefore, the transmitted image information is included in the mail in the same text format. Since the transmitting node outputs failure mail or delivery status notification mail as it is, the user receives a considerable volume of unclear and unnecessary information. As a result, the user cannot identify the original document and this will result in a waste of resources such as recording paper.
Furthermore, normal E -mail may contain information that need not always be output. However, conventional Internet facsimiles output the received data one after another no matter what the content may be and output the E-mail likewise, wasting resources such as recording paper.
The first objective of the present invention is to provide an Internet facsimile apparatus capable of recognizing failure mail and delivery status notification mail.
The second objective of the present invention is to provide an E-mail reception method that recognizes E-mail, capable of recognizing failure mail and delivery status notification mail.
The third objective of the present invention is to provide an Internet facsimile apparatus capable of outputting only necessary information.
The fourth objective of the present invention is to provide an E-mail reception method that outputs E-mail capable of outputting only necessary information.
The present invention provides an Internet facsimile comprising a receiving section for receiving E-mail via a network and a identification section for identifying whether said E-mail is failure mail which notifies an error or not.
The present invention provides an Internet facsimile comprising a receiving section for receiving E-mail via a network and a identification section for identifying whether the E-mail is delivery status notification m ail which contains information on the success/failure of delivery of the E-mail or not.
The present invention provides information terminal equipment comprising a unit for transmitting/receiving E-mail via a network and a attaching section for attaching information on the success/failure of delivery of the E-mail to be transmitted.
The present invention provides an E-mail reception method comprising a step of receiving E-mail via a network and a step of identifying whether said E-mail is failure mail notifying an error or not.
The present invention provides an E-mail reception method comprising a step of receiving E-mail via a network and a step of identifying whether the E-mail is delivery status notification mail including information on the success/failure of delivery of the E-mail or not.
The present invention provides an Internet facsimile comprising a receiving section for receiving E-mail via a network, a recognizing section for recognizing the E-mail configuration, a extracting section for extracting only image information from the received data in the case that the E-mail contains no document information and a outputting section for outputting said extracted image information.
The present invention provides an Internet facsimile comprising a receiving section for receiving E-mail via a network, a identification section for identifying whether the received E-mail contains a document fixed message or not, a extracting section for extracting only image information from said E-mail when the E-mail contains a document fixed message and a outputting section for outputting said extracted image information.
The present invention provides en E-mail reception method comprising a step of receiving E-mail via a network, a step of recognizing the E-mail configuration, a step of extracting only image information from said received data when said E-mail contains no document information and a step of outputting said extracted image information.
The present invention provides an E-mail reception method comprising a step of receiving E-mail via a network, a step of identifying whether the received E-mail contains a document fixed message or not, a step of extracting only image information from said E-mail when said E-mail contains a document fixed message and a step of outputting said extracted image information.